The city’s fire department took a literal step up as 15 were recognized at the council meeting Tuesday via a resolution promoting them.

One, George Durham, was promoted to assistant chief. Five others were promoted to lieutenant. They were: Joel Lord, Russell Oakley, Woodrow Sapp, Jessten Mullis and Stewart Scott.

The other nine were promoted to engineer. They were: Robert Alley, Robert Burston, Richard Reynolds, Jason Oliver, Michael Buckner, Gregory Fetz, Calvin Huggins III, Matthew Johnson and Dale Mullis Jr.

Councilman Paul Shealy said he thought it was the biggest group of firefighters promoted at one time in the city’s history.

The city also had the first reading of an ordinance to create the position of procurement manager.

That garnered considerable discussion with Councilman Daron Lee arguing the point that the city should look at a position that encompassed all the “projects the city has out there.”

Lee said the city was still allocating funds from the 2001 SPLOST and also asked the question did any of the councilmen actually know the full extent of what projects the city had on its plate right now. None raised their hand.

Mayor Chuck Shaheen agreed with Lee. “I think it’s the best solution,” he said.

Councilman Mike Daley on the other hand said: “We have a very, very capable staff of department heads who work together. I mean the mayor has staff meetings with those individuals all the time.

“We don’t need to be adding another high-level position within the city. We have a budget we need to stay with it. We need to stay on our budget plan.”

Councilman Mike Davis agreed with him.

In other action, the council passed a resolution on the city’s overtime policy: “All non-exempt ‘on-call’ employees shall be compensated at the rate of $30 per day for on-call duty plus compensation for hours actually worked. Exempt ‘on-call’ employees shall be compensated at $30 per day.”

It also passed a resolution to provide for the abandonment of a 20-foot section of easement in the Village at Town Centre and approved purchase requests totally near $200,000.

One of those was for a 2013 Chevy Tahoe for the fire department, $29,046. Another was for a change order for water main relocation on Corder Road, $47,364.55. This was listed as the “final payment” to the Houston County Board of Commissioners.

Another $7,700 was for wall construction at WWTP No. 5 and 6 and $82,499 was for pump replacement at the Green Street Lift Station. This was listed as coming out of SPLOST funds.